LINGUIST List 4.369

Sun 16 May 1993

FYI: In Memoriam: Roger Keesing

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1. Gillian Sankoff, In Memoriam:Roger Keesing

Prof. Roger Keesing, linguist/anthropologist/creolist/Oceanist,
died of a massive heart attack while attending the Canadian Anthropology
Society Meetings in Toronto last Friday. Yesterday (May 13), a memorial
service was held in the chapel of McGill University, where Roger had taught
for the past several years, after a distinguished career at A.N.U. His many
publications on the Oceanic languages of the Solomon Islands are well known to
Oceanists, and in recent years his work on Melanesian Pidgin has attracted
the attention and respect of creolists around the world. In particular, his
1988 book, Melanesian Pidgin and the Oceanic Substrate (Stanford U. Press)
has had a tremendous impact on the field. We will sorely miss Roger and the
future work we had anticipated from him: at 57, he was planning continued
research in the Solomons, and had much more to contribute to linguistics.
It is with great sorrow that I write to let others know of his loss.
Gillian Sankoff. (gilliancentral.upenn.edu)